The National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE) was founded in 2008 as part of the Beacons for Public Engagement initiative. The NCCPE has an international reputation for inspiring and supporting universities to engage with the public.

The NCCPE seeks to support a culture change in the UK higher education sector which would see it making a vital, strategic and valued contribution to 21st-century society through its public engagement activity.

The NCCPE’s mission is to support universities to increase the quality and impact of their public engagement activity.

Their three strategic aims are to:

Support excellent public engagement practice

  • Provide people with the tools, training, resources and advice they need to engage or facilitate engagement within their organisation (e.g. CPD & training; our Engage Academy; our Engagement Resources base)
  • Collect learning from our projects and beyond and sharing it widely (e.g. our publications and projects)
  • Create networking opportunities to enhance learning opportunities (e.g. our Engage conference)

Create the conditions for public engagement to thrive in universities

  • Consultancy to support universities in bringing about strategic change that embeds public engagement
  • Products to help effect change (e.g. Manifesto for Public Engagement; EDGE tool; Engage Watermark)
  • Identify, develop and disseminate evidence-informed practice (e.g. Research for All journal; publications)

Build strong networks and partnerships to amplify our impact

  • Encourage partners to work with the higher education sector and to embed public engagement in their work (e.g. Museum University Partnership Initiative)
  • Challenge those working in higher education to learn from engagement experts from outside higher education (e.g. the UK Community Partner Network)
  • Inform, influence and interpret policy (e.g. our REF resources)

You can find out more about the NCCPE at https://www.publicengagement.ac.uk/

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